How ‘Botched’ Star Terry Dubrow Found His Higher Calling

By the time he was a teenager, Dubrow knew he wanted to practice medicine. He and his brother, Kevin, the late lead singer of the heavy metal band Quiet Riot, were raised by a single mother in Los Angeles. His mother was a secretary, and early in their childhood, Dubrow became attuned to his family’s struggles. He told me a story about giving milk to a stray cat who lived in the alley by his childhood home. “Every night the cat would scratch on the screen door for more milk, and my mom wouldn’t let us have the cat,” he said. “And I thought to myself, Oh my god, I am gonna be this cat, this stray cat living in an alley unless I do something with my life.”

He first considered going into dentistry. (“Being a dentist is low key. They do really well. You’ve always got work.”) So in high school, he started volunteering at the University of Southern California’s School of Dentistry, which was “deathly boring.” One day, they let the students volunteer in the USC emergency room. As soon as he walked in, he was smitten by the smell, the thrill, the commanding aura of the residents. They seemed to exude importance. 

So he went to UCLA Medical School intending to become a cardiac surgeon. “​​I’m kind of a hair on fire guy,” he explained. “Like if I was in the military, I’d want to be a fighter pilot.” And then he met a plastic surgeon named Malcolm Lesavoy. In his second year of med school, Dr. Lesavoy—suave, tall, sporting cowboy boots, an overall “beautiful human being,” said Dubrow —gave a presentation about plastic and reconstructive surgery in war. Dubrow was enamored. Dr. Lesavoy quickly became his mentor.

After getting certified as a plastic surgeon, Dubrow had a series of small breaks before his really big one. He was working in a more established plastic surgeon’s practice, who operated on a lot of celebrities. Dubrow explained that he would work on the right side, while the other doctor would do the left, and his celeb patients took note of his meticulous work. In 1996, about six months after graduating from UCLA’s plastic surgery program, Dubrow said he was featured in a magazine article recommending the best surgeons in Los Angeles plastic.